


Whiskey and Waffles

by KairiGokuJr



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Julian being written out of the show will haunt me to my grave, Look at me not writing smut, Waffles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 13:05:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17060321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KairiGokuJr/pseuds/KairiGokuJr
Summary: Julian comes to Caitlin's apartment and she (stupidly) invites him in for a drink. The next morning, Cisco and Barry stop by to take her out for waffles and she immediately regrets opening the door."She considered for a moment that the two idiots on the other side of the door were her best friends and she wondered if she should've stayed in that bar."AU set after S4E1 if Julian stayed in Central City.





	Whiskey and Waffles

Caitlin hadn't planned for the evening to take the turn that it had. She hadn't planned at all for this day to happen really. 

But of course Cisco showed up at the bar, and of course she had to help get Barry out of the Speed Force. She wasn't going to just abandon her friends.

And of course Julian was still there. Why wouldn't he be after she'd basically been the one to drag him into all of this, after the kidnapping, making him join the team and what not.

They'd had an awkward reunion and an equally awkward parting at Star Labs.

When Julian showed up at her apartment, at first, she was just grateful that it had been after Amunet's grody little henchboy had run off. Stupidly, she'd invited him inside, just in case she was still being watched. What had she been thinking?

When he was standing in the door way of the apartment and her initial shock of him being there was gone, she now had to deal with him actually being there. Her first thought had been to tell him to leave. That he shouldn't be there.

"Do you want a drink?" she offered instead, because she didn't really want him to go. Because she had missed him.

"I can make you anything," she went on to say.

Julian looked her kitchen over and chuckled. "You certainly seem to have everything."

Indeed, her kitchen was fully stocked with booze. There was a science to mixing drinks, sure, but she did have to learn it first. She didn't become a bartender overnight. She'd spent a lot of nights in her apartment getting it right.

"I had to practice making drinks a lot at home," Caitlin said. She picked up a bottle of whiskey and gave it a dramatic flip in the air, before catching. Julian applauded and she bowed dramatically.

They settled on whiskey and coke (mostly whiskey), and then sat down on her couch.

"So, you're back for good then?" Julian asked.

Caitlin nodded. "It's good to be back."

"We're glad you're back," he said. "To be honest, we're all kind of useless without you around."

Caitlin managed a chuckle before taking another sip of her drink. "I'm kind of useless without you guys too. Bartending isn't exactly my calling."

"You're not terrible at it, if this is any indication," Julian said holding up his drink. She smiled at him. "Although it is kind of a waste of your Ph.D."

"And two doctorates," she added.

"All right, don't rub it in," he laughed. He was so easy to be around. She felt comfortable around him. The alcohol was making her feel a little too comfortable.

She sat the glass on the coffee table and turned to face him, resting her head on the back of the couch.

"Why are you here, Julian?" she finally asked.

"I missed you," he said without pause or the slightest bit of hesitation.

Caitlin sighed. She was putting on this façade that Killer Frost was gone, but she wasn't. She was still dangerous. She'd completely thrown everything that had happened between them back in his face before she'd left. And he still missed her.

"I know what you're going to say," Julian began.

"I don't think you do," Caitlin replied.

"You just got back and you need time to adjust and you don't want to rush into anything and we can't possibly go back to the way things were before," he said.

"We can't," Caitlin said.

"You're right," he said. "But we can start over."

Caitlin remembered that first time he'd asked her out, while not really asking her out. He invited her out to dinner so they could both be afraid together, as friends. They'd had steak and wine. They'd laughed all night. She'd been so happy. She remembered how badly she wanted to kiss him, and that he'd probably wanted to as well, but he didn't.

Then she remembered how happy she'd been when they were finally together. However briefly and privately they had been.

She couldn't help but think that it was all going to go wrong again. It always went wrong for Caitlin.

But maybe this time it wouldn't? Maybe everything would work out? She had her friends back today. She had her life back today. She wasn't going to let Amunet control her anymore. She wasn't going to let Killer Frost control her anymore. Caitlin could do whatever she wanted.

She wanted this.

Caitlin picked up her glass and took a much longer drink than she'd intended to. She coughed and sputtered. Julian reached out and placed a hand on her back.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said waving a dismissive hand at him and sitting her glass down. His hand was still resting her back. He had scooted closer to her, their knees were touching now. Caitlin stared into his eyes before looking away to her lap.

She wasn't really fine. Killer Frost was still there. Had been there, moment ago. Lurking just below the surface, threatening to ruin everything again. She couldn't even go to the hospital without the threat of being thrown in jail anymore.

Did her team need to know that? Did Julian need to know that?

"I don't have a really good track record," she said. "My husband--."

"Died, I know," Julian said.

"Yeah," Caitlin said. "But the guy I saw after him, he tried to kill Barry. And is also probably dead."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Caitlin said. "You could very well be risking death to be with me. Do you think that's worth it?"

Julian closed the small distance between them and he kissed her. It was brief. Caitlin was almost unsure if their lips had met.

"I think you're worth it," Julian said.

Caitlin couldn't find anything else to say. She kissed him again. And again. And then she couldn't stop herself. She heard Julian's glass fall to the ground, but she didn't care as his fingers twisted up through her hair. She was close to him again.

It wasn't long before they'd stumbled their way back to her bedroom. They peeled each other's clothes off, slid under her covers. They spent the night tangled up in each other. When they finally stopped to sleep, with his arms wrapped around her, she was glad she had invited him in.

The sun is what woke her the next morning. It filtered in between her curtains and into her eyes. She rolled over and buried her face into Julian's chest. She breathed in his smell and relaxed against him. Julian shifted against her and kissed the top of her head. Caitlin smiled. She didn't wanted to live in this moment, right here. Everything was perfect and happy for the first time in a long time.

"You don't have anything important to do today, do you?" Caitlin asked.

"Just work, but who needs a job anyway?" Julian muttered. Sleep still clung to his words and his voice was huskier and deeper than usual. "But I don't have to be there for a few hours still. Plenty of time to just. . . Be here."

"That sounds nice," Caitlin replied. "I like you being here and, your just, existing in general."

Julian chuckled. "I also like your existence in general."

Caitlin looked up at Julian. There was a sleepy smile on his face. He reached up and brushed his fingers through her hair. She pouted, assuming she probably looked like a disheveled mess. But he still smiled at her.

"We should go out tonight," he said.

"Is coming to my apartment in the middle of the night for a drink and staying the night not an ideal date night for you?" she teased.

"I'm not saying I'm opposed to how the night turned out, but food before might've been nice," he said.

Caitlin sighed. "I am hungry."

There was a knock on the door. Of course, she thought.

"Expecting company?" he asked as she climbed out of bed picking up clothes.

"No," she replied, snapping on her bra on. "It's probably my neighbor asking if I saw who stole her paper."

"Is that a frequent occurrence?" he asked.

"Unfortunately," she said. There was another knock. Caitlin dressed quickly and walked out to her front door in time to hear another knock.

"Miss Soriano, I told you, I don't know who's taking your paper," Caitlin said as she unlocked her front door. She pulled the door open.

There stood Cisco and Barry.

"Good morning, Sunshine," Cisco said, his usual jovial self. Barry seemed as though he was also, just barely awake, although she assumed him being trapped in the Speed Force for as long as he had been he'd need to sleep for a week.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Celebratory waffles. We're all going out for breakfast because we got the team back together," Cisco said.

"He's very excited," Barry said. "Iris is already rounding up Joe and Wally. He even convinced Wells to come."

"You couldn't have called? Or texted?" Caitlin asked. "You can build a super suit, but you can't work a phone?"

Cisco shushed her. "Hush up with all that super suit talk, girl. The walls have ears." Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Anyway, in person wake up calls are way more fun."

"And he wanted to make sure you didn't run off again," Barry put in. Cisco waved him away.

"I got this," Cisco said. "Get dressed and let's go. We gotta swing by and grab Julian too."

"I would call him; he can be kind of grumpy sometimes," Barry said.

Cisco conceded. "Fine. If you two insist."

Caitlin was just about to make up an excuse about why she should call Julian when Cisco's eyes clocked something in her apartment behind her. He pointed.

"Isn't that Julian's jacket?" he asked.

Caitlin turned and there it was, slung over the arm of her couch.

Barry suddenly seemed wide awake and was also eyeing the jacket.

"Did he come visit last night?" Cisco asked, that mischievous glint in his eye.

"Yes," she admitted. "Now can I go get dressed and--."

"Is he still here?" Cisco asked, quieting his voice. "Barry, text him and tell him to meet us for waffles."

"Barry don't--."

"Done," Barry said, putting his phone back into his pocket before she'd even seen him take it out. God damned, speedsters.

"Will you two leave?" Caitlin protested, her face reddening.

"Nah, I wanna see this play out," Cisco said, crossing his arms and angling to look behind Caitlin.

Then, as if one cue, Julian walked out of her bedroom (thankfully he was dressed), phone in hand, staring down at the screen.

"Seems 'Team Flash' is having mandatory gathering at Jitters for breakfast," Julian said. He looked up from his phone and saw the boys standing in the doorway over Caitlin's shoulder.

"Yeah, I know," she said. She turned back to Barry and Cisco who were standing in the doorway, giggling like a couple of school girls.

"Hey, Julian," Barry said, his attempt at being casual completely flopping.

"I'm going to kill both of you," Caitlin said moving for the door.

"We'll see you at breakfast," Cisco said. "I always knew you crazy kids would get together."

Caitlin slammed the door in their faces as they fell out into a puddle of giggles. She considered for a moment that the two idiots on the other side of the door were her best friends and she wondered if she should've stayed in that bar.

"Well, that was sufficiently uncomfortable," he said.

Caitlin nodded in agreement. She didn't want to be in that bar. She wanted to be here, with Julian. With Cisco and Barry making fun of her like obnoxious brothers. With waffles at Jitters with her friends waiting for her.

"Mortifying is more like it," she said, reclining back against the door. "And now we all get to go have waffles together."

"I think even Cisco and Allen are a bit more discreet than that," Julian said.

"Thankfully," she said. "I'd better get dressed."

"And I'm going to go home and change before I join you. The last thing I think we need now is for me to show up wearing yesterday's clothes," he said.

"Good call," she agreed.

He walked over and kissed her. For a moment, Caitlin wanted to forget all about breakfast and pull Julian back into her bedroom and stay there with him all day.

But he broke the kiss.

"See you soon," she said.

"Soon," he repeated. Caitlin opened the door and stepped aside for him to exit. He kissed her again before leaving. Caitlin pushed the door closed and reclined back against it again. Her hands went up to her cheeks. She couldn't believe how absolutely giddy she felt. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling. It was a good kind of pain.

She went to her bedroom and quickly pulled out a new outfit. She as she was pulling on her new shirt, her phone buzzed several times. She picked it up and saw several texts from Cisco.

The first read: _Caught your boyfriend walk of shamin' it._

Then there were a series of photos of Julian; in one he clearly didn't notice Barry and Cisco. In the next, he spotted them. The next two were clearly taken as Cisco was running away.

How were they possibly this embarrassing? It was like she had two annoying brothers.

She wouldn't change it for the world.


End file.
